One of the many places I’ve called home over the years is the Bay Area of California, namely, Half Moon Bay. Loved it there. Hated to leave but man, that cost of living was a killer on a poor scribe’s budget.

Because getting to San Francisco required driving up the 280 (Highway 1 occasionally was closed due to mudslides back then until the built that fancy new tunnel south of Pacifica) we drove past this structure almost daily:

Yeah, it’s a Flintstone’s house. And it’s kind of weird looking where it’s located, but its also kind of goofy fun too. The dinosaurs are a more recent addition, one that wasn’t there when I lived there. I wish they had been, as it would have really been something to see.

Those dinosaurs are at the center of a kerfluffle today. Seems the City of Hillsborough wants them gone. They are fining the property owner, a kindly old lady who recently purchased the unwanted property, added the statues and opened it up for local children to enjoy, for “unpermitted improvements to the property”.

Funny, I wasn’t aware that any city had the right to dictate lawn statuary. As long as they aren’t obscene (these aren’t), pose a health risk (they don’t), or otherwise impede traffic – human, car or air – (these clearly don’t) then I’m not seeing the problem here.

This crap right here is how you get to be called Nazis, City of Hillsborough, and a prime example of why I moved out of the Socialistic Republic of Kaliforniastan last year.

Be better, California. Leave an old woman alone and quit trying to nanny your citizens to death.

And then join me in e-mailing your displeasure over their actions to the Mayor, vice-Mayor and the entire Hillsborough City Council via their official city e-mail accounts. (Keep it clean. We want to make these people realize they are wrong and change course.):

Back in 2016, Blood of Invidia, was released by Tom Tinney and Morgen Batten. It went on to be a 2017 Finalist for Best Horror Novel at that year’s Dragon Awards. It fell to The Changeling by Victor LaValle.

Okay, so there were a lot of books that didn’t win. Lots more that didn’t even get nominated. So what makes this book so special?

The reason why it was written and published.

You see, Tom and Morgen are father and son. They live tens of thousands of miles apart and for a very long time, they never knew each other existed. That changed several years back. But the distance between them made seeing each other in person near to impossible. E-mails, phone calls and Skypes, aside, they wanted to meet in person.

So they decided to write a book and use the royalties to pay for their first-ever meeting. Blood of Invidia was born. When they were ready, they released it.

Many of us got behind the book as much as we could. Larry Correia sparked a massive run of sales literally by mentioning the project. I mentioned it as often as I could. As did so many others. I reviewed it and was among enough people to nominate it to get it in as a Finalist for the Dragon Awards.

The book was a success, but the goal was not yet attained. It took another year and a half after the Dragon Awards in late 2017, but today, father held his son in his arms for the very first time. You want to know one reason why we write, why some of us do whatever we can to help promote other authors anyway we can no matter how big or small our effort may be?

This is why. This meeting on this day in Australia.

Here’s the video of Tom flying out of Dallas, the plot to make his visit a surprise and the moment when father and son meet face-to-face for the very first time:

For a large stretch of 2017 it seemed like I was submitting a short story to an anthology every month. I even started calling myself “Anthology Man” on Twitter. At this time, six of my stories are out in published anthologies and are all available on Amazon right now.

After a brief hiatus, it seems Anthology Man is on the loose once again. I recently was informed that a short story I wrote for a zombie/horror anthology has been accepted and this very morning I signed a contract for my short story, Icarus Falls, to appear in Superversive Press’ Planetary: Jupiter anthology. Judging by the other authors who will also be in this volume of the series, it should be a great read.

I’m also going to have a story, Polar Shift, in Planetary: Luna and I will have a story in Planetary: Pluto which I am co-editing with Dawn Witzke. I can tell you Pluto has some amazing stories by even more amazing writers in it. I have submissions in three other Planetary volumes – Sol, Uranus and Neptune – that I am waiting to hear back from.

By the way, if you would like to submit a story to Superversive Press for either Uranus or Neptune, I believe they are still looking for stories for it. Shoot them an e-mail at: contact@superversivepress.com to see what they are looking for and what the deadlines are.

And as if that wasn’t enough, I’m just now finishing up a short story for an H.G. Wells tribute anthology for Belanger Books. All that on top of producing the “A Scribe’s Journey” video podcasts. Check out my YouTube channel for all of the episodes out so far. And oh yes, the remaining five books of the Timeless series, three standalone novels and resuming the Lost Civilization series that When The Gods Fell kicked off last fall.

Whew, I’m exhausted just reading about what I’ve been up to, aren’t you? And there’s more to come. I’m hoping 2019 will turn out to be my best year yet.

December is #Indiecember, a month celebrating Independently published authors – such as yours truly – and showing them the support they all need. Just search #Indiecember on Twitter to find wonderful authors and the incredible worlds they have created.

In my case, most of my titles are on sale for just $0.99 on Kindle. For less than a buck, you can explore many of the new worlds I have created right on your kindle device.

Head over to this page for a complete list of all of my books with links to purchase them on Amazon today!

It is hard to imagine what sci-fi/fantasy would be if Stan Lee weren’t a part of it. The incredible universe he helped create at Marvel will almost certainly be impossible to duplicate.

Like many other SF/F authors I first was a huge fan. Thor, Spiderman, the X-Men, Iron Man, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk and all of the others were huge favorites. And what joy to see them move from the comic book page to the TV screen in weekly live and animated series.

Then the huge move to the big screen a few years back with the incredible series of films. Were it not for these films I would likely never have discovered the Guardians of the Galaxy. Seriously, I’d never checked out any of the Guardians’ comic books. Now, Rocket is my favorite Marvel character of all.

Stan Lee passed yesterday at the age of 95, not too long after the passing of his wife. This news was expected, but still saddens SF/F fans around the world. The legacy Lee leaves behind, in the stories, worlds and characters he created over a lengthy career is one any author/creator would sell his or her soul for. His stories will live on through time and be enjoyed by generations not yet born.

Ours can say we were lucky to enjoy him during his life and hopefully in future Marvel films not yet shot, they can figure out a way to have Stan show up in the film. His cameos have been fun to watch and I hope they keep on coming.

As for those who somehow wish to taint his legacy with unfounded rumor and innuendo, I’d say shame on you but the sad truth is you don’t have any to begin with. So I choose to tune out these negative nellies, these SJWs who are mad at Lee because he would not rewrite long-established characters to be something they never were.

Lee’s point that brand-new characters could be written with the qualities and traits the SJWs demanded was quite valid. But, as is always these case with these hateful people, it wasn’t enough. They always seek to destroy what came before, never to build something new.